Present Tense Please

Charlie Brown comments to Lucy in the cartoon "Peanuts," "Someone has said that we should live each day as if it were the last day of our life." "Aaugh!" cries Lucy. "This is the last day! This is it!" She dashes away screaming, "I only have 24 hours left! Help me! Help me! This is the last day! Aaugh!" Charlie Brown, left alone, muses, "Some philosophies aren't for all people." Jesus said it another way: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:25-34 ESV). To a large degree, the measure of our peace is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment. Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year, and what may or may not happen tomorrow, the present is where you are – always! When the past, with all of its failures and frustrations, crowd into our present we lose our sense of well being. Or, when we allow the challenges and fears of the future to dominate our thinking we lose the moment of joy we have been given today. “Someday” is today for the child of God! Jim Reed says in his book, The Way I Heer’d It, “Our minister says worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere." It is so tragic that so many people live life in the “rocking chair.” It is as if they have accepted the philosophy that life is no more than a dress rehearsal for some later performance. It isn’t! In fact, the truth is that no one has a guarantee that they will even see tomorrow on this earth. Charlie Brown was right about that! Today may be the last day of our life. It certainly is the only day that we have control over. So, today, would you live you life in the present tense, please? Push fear out of your mind. For just a few moments bring your concern to the present. Find that one good thing that is happening in your life right now – as small and insignificant as it may seem. Focus and direct your thoughts to the goodness of that thing. And, now thank Him for it. Thank Him for that one moment. Let the peace of God now begin to seep into your soul and know that you are in the best of hands!